1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the use of mixtures containing (A), unsaturated C.sub.16-22 carboxylic acid C.sub.16-22 alkenyl ester sulfonates and (B), at least one surfactant from the group of sulfates as wetting agents in aqueous alkaline treatment preparations for yarns or sheet-form textiles.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Cotton contains natural impurities, for example waxes, wax-like substances, proteins, seed shells, fruit husks and pectins and also impurities which are applied as foreign substances in the course of processing, such as paraffins and/or mineral oils. The impurities in wool, regenerated fibers, such as viscose rayon, and synthetic fibers, such as polyester and polyamide, emanate from the treatment of these materials with finishes (Chwala/Anger in "Handbuch der Textilhilfsmittel", pages 526-528, 537, 558 et seq., Verlag Chemie Weinheim 1977). In order completely to remove these impurities mentioned by way of example, textile fibers, particularly cellulose-containing textile fibers, are normally subjected to a pretreatment.
Aqueous treatment preparations for the pretreatment and bleaching of natural fibers, such as cotton, or of mixtures of natural and synthetic fibers, such as cotton/ polyester or cotton/polyamide, require the addition of wetting agents to obtain relatively quick and intimate contact between the treatment preparation and the textile material. Mercerizing liquors, bleaches, cleaning preparations, boil-off preparations and degreasing preparations are examples of pretreatment and bleaching preparations. Wetting agents present in treatment preparations such as these must be soluble in water and stable to alkalis and must guarantee uniform wetting of the textile material In addition, they should be able to be easily added to the treatment preparations, i.e. should be present in liquid form at room temperature. In addition, wetting agents must be ecologically acceptable, i.e. must be readily biodegradable and non-toxic to aquatic organisms.
The object of the present invention was to develop liquid, water-soluble and alkali-stable wetting preparations which may be used in alkaline treatment preparations for sheet-form textiles or yarns.